Strange, I have read everything about Gagarin and there is nothing mentioned. Anyway,what I see is a pilot in a fairly good shape. And also f… the politics! What Gagarin did back than is equal to someone entering the mantle of the Earth down to the core nowadays( i.e the technology`s reliability and the actual outcome was unknown). That requires bravery that only a few, out of hundreds of million people do have.

OMG russia is truly backward country, such poverty exists only in Africa, but instead of development they wastefully spend billions of dollars on useless things. Who needs man in space when millions of Russian people dying of starvation and poverty?

India is the true model of how to treat those that are worst off. If India is so much better than Russia, how is it that specific infants are subject to infanticide, based on gender or how is it or why is it that farmers resort to drinking pesticide as a form of protest against the policies of the government.

However, supposedly, according to you, millions of Russians are dying of starvation. Which, I’m pretty sure would be well documented and well spoken of in the Western media. Yet, as far as I know, it’s those of the lower castes in India, that take such extreme measures as drinking toxic chemicals because they can no longer compete against cheaper grain from abroad.

Finland, a desolate place not even worthy of being invited by the rest of the Scandinavian countries. Apart from the last decade, throughout the Cold War, they were relatively fascist semi-authoritarians who tried to appease (brown nose) the Soviets at all times.

I thought of writing something more elaborate here about both Miss India and Buran. But maybe it’s enough if I simply call Buran a merzavets and MI a doofus (and a disgrace for my country, if he / she is from Finland)?
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Anyway, here’s a classic tribute to Yuri, by Finnish rock group Miljoonasade. Written in 1986. Too bad I can’t find it in Russian anywhere – there IS a Russian version (by a certain Aleksei Dolgov), which was given to Gagarin’s widow and to Soviet leader M. S. Gorbachev. (Three cheers to them!)

The title of the song is “Lapsuuden sankarille” – isn’t it “Geroyu Detstva” in Russian? And “To A Childhood Hero” in English. But it’s commonly referred to as “Fly, Yuri Gagarin”.

Have you heard…? The Americans spent far more on this in the end than the Soviets. There were plenty of poor people the yanks could have given the money to as well. It is true that only the capitalist industrial military complex could ever afford to win though.

And ther are loads of super things we have a result…. from Wikipedia……

“The scientists fostered by these efforts helped develop for space exploration technologies which have seen adapted uses ranging from the kitchen to athletic fields. Dried watermelon and ready-to-eat foods, in particular food sterilisation and package sealing techniques, stay-dry clothing, and even no-fog ski goggles have their roots in space science.”

I like my non-stick frying pan!!

If neither country had done it – and spent the money on education/health etc. we’d al be in better shape.

I’m not sure we did. I grew up in Seattle where my father worked for BOENG Aerospace. He retired a few years ago after working there over 30 years working on the electronics for things like the lunar walker and later the space shuttle. As an employee he was sworn to secrecy – but now he’s old and lately he’s been talking to us about things like this. He said we the lunar landing was all remote controled: it was robotics that got us the moon rocks. Check out “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon” on YouTube. Leaders have been lying to citizens since the time of the Pharaohs.

you are right,but the moon are in SPACE,not in USA and space ENDLESS!!!!!!!he opened road to infinity!!!!!!!!!!!millions,billons,trillions people will going to the space in future but he ALWAYS will be FIRTS!!!!!!!!!!!

Yuri crashed his MIG15 and was killed. It is speculated he crashed due to a vortex(in other words – jet wash) created by a MIG who flew before him and he lost control and crashed.
In honor of him – a crater on the moon was named after him because many view him as the first man in space and if time allowed the first man on the moon possibly.
Bottom line – he was a great man who died too young – 35 years old! In the flight school we studied about him and his accomplishments – he was ahead of his time!!!!!

Such an awesome achievements, it is sad that he became an unknown and irrelevant to the world thanks to Soviet Russia’s iron curtain, He could have cashed in his status and become a millionaire like us in the West. 🙁

Damn, you beat me to it! They must have been referring to the famous ancient Egyptian space programme. C’mon, did you really think the pyramids were just fancy gravestones? They’re obviously the nose cones of giant rockets…

Uh… not to rain on anyone’s parade but Comrade Gagarin wasn’t the first person in space. He was simply the first person to make it BACK from space alive, and on Russian soil.

According to this site:http://www.lostcosmonauts.com/pioneersit.htm (should be in English but may be in Italian), on 2 February 1961 an un-named ‘Cosmonaut X’ was launched into orbit but perished upon re-entry when his parachute failed to deploy slamming him into the ground. Later, on 7 April 1961 Vladimir Illyushin (son of the aircraft designer and the very best pilot the Soviet Union had) was launched and almost suffered the same fate. He crash-landed in China and was not returned to Russia for over a year.

Gagarin was sent up a week later because by then the world knew the Soviets were up to something. Even Gagarin didn’t land where he was supposed to owing to a navigational problem, but at least he managed to land in Russia.

So no, Gagarin wasn’t the first in space, he was the third. He was just the first one to make it back to Russia alive.

I can just recommend reading “Omon Ra”, a novel by Victor Pelevin.
I discovered the book in the darkest corner of a discount-book dealer´s shop. It was some 0,50 EUR and I must say it was one of the best values for a pocket change I ever found!

A Hollywood movie is a form of ENTERTAINMENT, not a form of EDUCATION. Americans realize that we are watching a piece of ENTERTAINMENT based on a historical event. We have no problem watching a movie and realizing things may not have happened exactly as depicted. The reason for this is simple: A strict documentary would not be as exciting and therefore would not make as much money. But the rest of the world sees: American Propoganda! American Deception! American Lies!

It’s ENTERTAINMENT that’s all! Have fun with it or not – it’s your choice.

Having have said that – the special effects that you grew up hating weren’t developed until 1977 with the “Star Wars” movies. As I said earlier, in 1972 Hollywood could not pull off the special effects for a convincing car ride. Just watch a movie from this era and you will see what I mean.

Lastly –

Gagarin was a great man, and it is too bad this post got turned into a conspiracy theory against NASA when it should have been about his achievements. It looks like he lead the Soviet equivalent of a rock star’s life.

Yuri was a true hero.
In that time, the chances of the rocket exploding into launch, or many other disastrous possibilities were high, and despite of that, he risked his own life without complains to do something that no man have did before.
There’s few cases of bravery like this in history.
Hats off to you, Yuri! Your name is well deserved to be in history!